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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A rider's Story. Prospect Park TDP. Story 6

My roommate and I moved to Pittsburgh, Pa. from Altoona, Pa. in 2008 [1] when she took a job in Canonsburg. We choose the Prospect Park area of Brentwood/Whitehall because it was close to Route 51 and it HAD great bus service. After moving here I found a job at the HotelInn in Oakland. As any other employee in the travel industry to be able to work Saturday and Sunday shifts is very important for me.Pre TDP

Prospect Park had bus service from 4:00Am - 12:15AM almost 7 days a week with no need to change buses and within one zone fare service to West Mifflin Wal-Mart, Century Plaza (Kohls/ GiantEagle) Target, Leland Point, Caste Village and Curry Hollow Road Shopping Plaza.

Pre TDP there were 4 routes providing Monday to Friday inbound service from as early as 4:07AM to as late as 11:09PM to the Prospect Park area at Parkline/Radford. The outbound service started as early as 4:33am, with a last bus leaving at 12:15AM from 6th/Smithfield. Those routes were 51C Ext, 51B Limited, 46A/F and 35A.

On Saturday we had buses for direct inbound service starting at 4:07AM to as late as 10:48PM from Parkline/Radford. Outbound service from 6th/Smithfield started at 4:45AM with the last bus at 8:30PM. The only direct route to downtown used to be 51C ext that did not provide inbound service after 6:43AM before restarting at 9:48PM. Therefore we had to take a 35A to RTE51/Streets Run Road or RTE51/Stilley to catch a regular 51C or 46G to go downtown. And we had to take a 46G or 51C to Rte 51/Brownsville to catch a 35A since there was no outbound service from 6th/Smithfield between the 4:45AM bus and 8:30PM bus Nor was there any direct outbound service after 8:30PM.

On Sunday there were two routes providing service to Prospect Park riders. Inbound service started at 4:41AM and run as late as 9:44PM (Parkline/Radford). Outbound service from 6th/Smithfield started 5:30AM with the last bus at 10:30PM. Those routes were 51C ext. and 35A. Since 51C ext only ran every 2 hours, in order to get downtown when there was no 51Cext service we had to take a 35A to RTE51/Streets Run or RTE51/Stiley to catch a regular 51C or 46G to go downtown. On our way back we had to take a 46G or 51C from 6th/Smithfield to Rte 51/Brownsville to catch a 35A to Prospect Park between the timepoints covered by 51C ext. But most important I was able to get to work on Sunday.

After TDP

It is very hard for me to work on Sundays since there are no early buses to Prospect Park and I find hard to walk on Willock Road to Brownsville at 5:00am. And if I do go to work when the Y49 starts I find difficult to return home since there are no late buses to Prospect Park and walking Willock Road in the dark can be dangerous.I tried to walk the beam on Lebanon Church Rd from Applebees to Target and almost got hit both to and from.

When shopping, I tried to go to CasteVillage and the connections were very hard to make. I tried to go to Curry Hollow Shopping Plaza and wasn't able to make the transfer from WalMart or the busway. I tried to go to Century III (Kohls, Giant Eagle etc,) and found hard to find a connection from WalMart.

So for me without the 35A I can no longer shop when or where I want to and without the 51C's early Sunday service I can no longer work on Sundays.

[1] On a short note, Altoona's bus service had an overhaul just before we moved. They have a transit center where all of their buses started/ended at and where I lived was a 15 minute bus ride before the changes is now a 75 minute ride.